Aes rude

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Aes rude, meaning “rough bronze” in Latin, was a bronze nugget used as money in ancient Italy before coins were minted. At that time Italy used a bronze standard for value, unlike parts of Greece that used silver standards. Crude bronze lumps served as both ingots and primitive coins, helping trade across the peninsula and paving the way for Roman money such as aes signatum and, later, aes grave. The earliest surviving aes rude dates from the early 8th century BC to the late 4th century BC and were cast in central Italy. They were simply bronze lumps, not yet shaped.

Over time these lumps were marked and gradually made into standard shapes, with the round, thin disk shape becoming the coin form most familiar today.

A new edition of Italian Cast Coinage by Italo Vecchi summarizes research into Italy’s cast bronze coinage since 1885. It lists 327 types—from aes rude and currency bars of early 1st millennium Italy to issues from the Second Punic War—and covers cast coinages across Rome, Etruria, Umbria, North-East and Central Italy, Lucania and Apulia. The book is arranged by region, includes notes on weight standards and chronology, and features three maps and 87 plates, with a full index.